Hellbenders

Mildred, bent over the recumbent man’s shoulder, spared Correll the briefest of looks. “Hard to say at the moment,” she replied as she returned to her work. “There was some superficial flesh wounding from the flechettes, but the real damage is around the joint itself. I’ve cleaned up the rest of his arm, and I’m looking at the tendons and muscle damage, see what I can do. Thing is, I’m no surgeon. I can patch him up, but he may not be able to use the arm too well.”

Correll nodded, as much to himself as anyone else. “That is as may be, and there is nothing we can do about it. I thank you for your help. We’ll leave you to your task.”

They left the med lab and rejoined the rest of the party, waiting outside.

“Tell me, my dear sir,” Doc asked, taking advantage of this unexpected break, “how did you come to be living here?”

“In good time, Dr. Tanner, in good time,” Correll said. “First we must do what is necessary.”

They reached the upper level of the redoubt, and went past an area that was obviously where the inhabitants had made their home. There were several people about, and they stopped to stare as Correll led the party past them. No one spoke, and a hush descended on the level.

“It’s not exactly the best way for them to get acquainted with us, is it?” Krysty whispered to Ryan. “They’re really going to love us for this.”

Correll looked back at her. “They’ll know the truth soon enough. First we do this.”

There was an edge to his voice that brooked no argument, and Ryan felt a nagging doubt begin to creep at the back of his mind. The low drawl in which Correll spoke barely changed in pitch or volume, yet was stopped from being a monotone by an underlying edge. Ryan had the vaguest notion that the edge in the man’s voice was that of madness. He was driven by something, but the one-eyed warrior had yet to find out exactly what that something was.

They walked on, past the area of habitation and up toward the main ramp and double set of sec doors leading to the outside. Correll punched in a code and opened the first set, leading them through. He paused before the second set, which opened onto the outside.

“Blasters ready,” he intoned. “That means you, as well, Ryan Cawdor, and your people. Every time that we go outside, we need to be triple-red aware.”

“Your enemies, or just muties and wildlife?” Ryan asked.

The ghost of a smile flickered across Correll’s face. “It’s all wildlife out there, friend, and they’re all our enemies.”

He punched in the final code and pressed a lever, the outer sec doors lifting to reveal to Ryan and the companions the world outside this particular redoubt.

In truth, it was hard to tell what the outside was like, as the fluorescent lighting inside made it hard for their eyes to adjust to the gloom outside. Although both J.B. and Ryan had wrist chrons, it was useless for them to use those as they had no idea whereabouts in the Deathlands they had landed. The Armorer had hoped that a look at the terrain would give him an idea, as he was usually accurate at judging their general location by the topography of the land. But wherever they were, it seemed to be late evening, and in the cloudless sky overhead there were stars beginning to show through the twilight.

“We must hurry,” Correll said, breaking into their respective thoughts. “The open door will be visible for some way. Come…”

He led most of the party outside and onto the bare rock around. Two of his sec people stayed within the boundary of the redoubt, and at a nod from their leader, closed the sec door.

“I don’t want the inside visible any longer than necessary when it’s dark,” he offered by way of explanation before leading them across the rock floor to an incline.

Looking around, the companions could tell that the redoubt was recessed into the side of a mountain that had a series of graded ridges running up the side. These had been fashioned into a road at one time, as there were still traces of blacktop material, but an earth movement—either the earth itself or possibly even the activities of the mutie worms—had caused much of the rock to fall away.

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